Rean Schwarzer
Rean Schwarzer is the main protagonist and playable character of the video game tetralogy The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. He is introduced as a new student at Thors Military Academy and is selected as a member of the first ever Class VII. He is also the adopted son of the Schwarzer family, a small but respected family of nobles. After the Erebonian civil war, he graduates from Thors and becomes an instructor at the same academy. He is voiced by Kouki Uchiyama in the Japanese version and Sean Chiplock in the English version, the latter of whom also voices Yuuki Mishima and Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Appearance Rean is a young man with unkempt black (usually has a blue tint) hair and light fuchsia eyes. His hair remains the same style for the duration of the trilogy. Despite appearing slightly different, the developers stated that it is the clothes which make him appear that way. In his summer uniform, he wear a right-handed fingerless glove said to be bought by Alisa. In Trails of Cold Steel, he wears the standard special Thors Military Academy crimson uniform for his class, consisting of the blazer style as differentiated from Elliot and Gaius. In Trails of Cold Steel II, Rean wears some casual clothes as his civil war outfit. It consists of a red jacket with a black shirt underneath, blue jeans with a belt, and brown boots. In Trails of Cold Steel III, Rean wears the Leeves instructor's uniform in the style of a long white overcoat while sporting some black clothing underneath, possibly in honour of his late rival and friend Crow Armbrust. Personality Although he was adopted into the Schwarzer family at a young age, Rean lacks most, if not all, of the aristocratic mannerisms commonly associated with nobles, a fact he notes himself. This is due to the fact that both of his adopted parents are fairly easy-going people and don't behave like typical nobles at all e.g. his father is an avid hunter and believes a lord should live like their people rather than above them. He has a positive, friendly attitude and a tendency to help people in need, a trait that is only encouraged by his instructor, Sara. Although initially annoyed at Sara for signing him up for Student Council work behind his back, he quickly gets used to it, even admitting that he's looking forward to helping them out after his exams. In his free time, he also enjoys fishing and snowboarding. Rean's classmates and friends often describe him as a leader, but he constantly rejects those claims. Sara in particular calls him the 'centre' of Class VII, due to his unique background and tendency to act as the voice of reason, and so he is generally depended on to convince other members of the class to get along and settle their differences. Despite this, he has a habit of saying or doing insensitive things that end up putting him at odds with one of his friends, most notably Alisa during his first month at Thors and Machias during the second. He also frequently finds himself in situations where a bunch or all of his friends will gang up on him, mostly because of his tendency to make corny speeches (which eventually rubs off on his friends, most notably Gaius) and his status as a chick magnet, the latter of which he tends to be highly oblivious towards. Rean also gets flustered very easily, something his younger sister, Elise, is constantly getting on his case for. However, while he can come off as passive at times, Rean is actually quite competitive, even admitting that he cares about winning and losing just as much as the next person, and gets just as frustrated when people hold him back. Despite being very level-headed during combat, Rean initially doesn't have a lot of confidence in his swordsmanship, even describing himself as as a "dropout who's never even been able to progress past beginner level", which initially dismays Laura. However, he quickly realises how disrespectful this was, and describes the 'way of the sword' as an inseparable part of who he is. Laura then tells him that he shouldn't make light of his own abilities and be more proud of the path he's chosen. Rean seems to take this to heart, as he later uses one of his skills to cut a lock to Lunaria Nature Park and soon after perfects an S-Craft skill he had been working on for a while in the fight against Grunoja, though even then he still views himself as a beginner. This inferiority complex stems from his ogre form, which Rean has been terrified of his whole life and has been desperately trying to suppress, since he can easily lose control when it activates. Rean always puts others before himself, often at the cost of his own well-being, a prime example being when he protects Machias and Jusis from a monster, which results in him getting injured and being unable to fight for a while. Jusis describes this behaviour as "abnormal", stating that few people are as selfless as he is. However, he does not mean this as a compliment, and warns Rean that his selflessness can easily be perceived as arrogance. This side of him is also noted by Elise, who states that he's always concerned about what'll make others happy and never thinks about what'll make him happy. Rean also has a rather large guilt complex; after the incident with Alisa in the old schoolhouse, he spends much of the preceding month trying to apologise for it despite the situation being out of his control, believing he should have known that the trapdoor was designed so they wouldn't get hurt from the fall and that the whole thing wouldn't have happened if he hadn't tried to "play the hero." He also feels bad about leaving Machias in the dark about his social class, even though Machias put him on the spot with his outburst about nobles and he technically didn't even lie, since he really doesn't have any noble blood in him. Perhaps the biggest example of this, however, is that he's convinced he needs to "pay back" his adopted parents for the "trouble" of taking care of him all these years, not being able to see that they did so because they love him unconditionally as though he were their real son. In general, Rean has always felt like an outsider in the world of nobles, an insecurity he hides well but becomes very obvious when Patrick T. Hyarms condescendingly calls him a "nobody without a drop of noble blood." His entire reason for enrolling at the academy is to figure out what to do with himself, as he believes that, since he's adopted, he isn't worthy to become the next baron of Ymir. Besides devastating Elise, this draws criticism from both Laura and Fie, the former of whom asks him if he's certain that he's not simply trying to escape the life he's been given and the latter of whom tells him that if he goes through with his decision, he'll be leaving behind the only home he's ever known. Gallery Rean Schwarzer artwork.jpg Rean swinging his sword.jpg Rean- Ogre Form.jpg|Rean's ogre form Rean Schwarzer- Spirit Unification.png Rean and Alisa.jpg|Rean and Alisa Rean's Crafts Autumn Leaf Cutter.gif|Autumn Leaf Cutter Gale.gif|Gale Flame Slash.gif|Flame Slash Category:Video Game Heroes Category:Male Category:Tragic Category:Outright Category:Military Category:Warriors Category:Dissociative Category:Aristocrats Category:Spoiled Sweet Category:Protector of Innocence Category:Genius Category:Voice of Reason Category:Teenagers Category:Siblings Category:Related to Villain Category:Friend of a Villain Category:Betrayed Category:Protectors Category:Neutral Good Category:Merciful Category:Monster Slayers Category:Insecure Category:Mentor Category:Martyr Category:Scapegoat Category:Selfless Category:Self Hating Category:Leaders Category:Paranormal Investigators Category:Famous Category:War Heroes Category:The Chosen One Category:Honorable Category:Elementals Category:Healers Category:Supporters Category:Charismatic Category:Casanova Category:Amnesiac Category:Magic Category:Loyal Category:Heroic Liars Category:Master Orator Category:Successful Category:One-Man Army Category:In Love Category:Global Protection Category:Status dependent upon Player choice Category:Summoners Category:Legendary Heroes Category:Heroic Disciplinarians Category:Rivals Category:Pawn of the Villain Category:Counter-Terrorists Category:Chaotic Good Category:Brutes